THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
35 
Most of tlie natives on both islands live in neat frame built and presented 
to them by Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co., instead of the damp and filthy sod- 
huts (here called yurt) which they formerly lived in. If properly located and built, 
however, the sod-house is well suited to the climate and the needs of the people, and 
the muniflcence of the above company ceasing with the expiration of the lease, the 
Zholti Mys natives, as well as many a new-wed young couple, have erected new sod- 
huts. These are built over a wooden frame, lined inside with boards, and the site 
properl^^ drained (plates 15/^ and 16«). 
Nowadays the males dress almost exclusively in imported ready-made clothes, and 
the women make themselves dresses of calico or woolen goods, though for heavy over- 
coats and capes they wear also imported ready-made articles. Even the latest fashions 
l>enetrate rapidly to these distant shores. My surprise may well be imagined at 
seeing girls there last year wearing gay-colored waists with enormous “leg-o’-mutton ’’ 
sleeves! lieady-made shoes are also used in great quantities, for although a few men 
have been taught shoemaking, comparatively little repairing is done. The old home- 
made garments are going out of use. The old rain coat, made of dried seal guts, is 
being laid a^-ide for the oil coat, and the native i((rl>((ssi — moccasins made of seal skin 
or the inside throat-lining of the old bull seals — are giving way to rubber boots. Evem 
the baidarka, the graceful skin canoe, is a thing of the past, as the sea-lion has l)econie 
nearly exterminated on the islands, and the same fate has befallen the large skin 
baidaras, great ligliters made of a framework of wood over which was stretched 
sea-lion skins sewed together. The framework is taken apart and used for other 
purposes, and the steamers’ boats do the Avork of the baidara. 
The mtmicipal institutions of the two Commander island communities are particu- 
larly interesting, not only because they are peculiar, but because they difter so radically 
on the two islands. The system on Bering I.sland is one of nearly piire communism, 
while on Coi>per Island it may be termed individualistic by comparison. The local 
administration has of course a great poAver and inliuence, but the natives have also 
a great deal to say in regard to their own affairs. They elect for a certain term a chief 
and an assistant chief, subject to the approval of the administrator or local governor. 
The chief, in a measure, I’epresents the community, and through him all communica 
tions to the natives have to go. This is particularly the case with reference to the 
company and its agents, who have absolutely no authority whatsoever over the natives, 
much less over the chief. The men attend to their internal affairs, receive the Gov- 
ernment’s communications, and hold their elections in their assend)ly house. The 
chief’s business, among other things, is to see that the governor’s orders are executed, 
that work to be undertaken is imoxAerly done, and that the moneys coming to the 
natives are projAerly distributed, etc. If I wanted a team of dogs and sledge I could 
not arrange with any native I jAleased, but had to notify the chief, AAdio Avould then 
send me the one whose turn, as duty or x>rivilege, it Avouhl be to furnish the dogs. 
A specified tariff for all AVork is provided. On Bering Island the total lAroceeds 
from the seal killing, 1.50 riibles per skin, is jiaid into the community fund and then 
distributed according to shares, each family, according to the individual rating of the 
members, receiving a certain number of shares and fraction of shares. For this the 
able-bodied men have to do the community work, including the sealing, without fur- 
ther compensation. On Copper Island an entirely different system i>revails. There 
each family is X)aid for each skin Avhich a member of the family brings to the salt- 
